full metal alchemist
by Karin Matthews
Summary: Ed was adopted by Roy Mustang at age 7, a few years down the line theres a scare when they find out Ed has inherited the disease which killed his mother. And how far will someone go to keep the new sound alchemy a secret? Enough to want to kill? Edited x2
1. Now for something completely different

Roy Mustang and his long term girlfriend Juliet had decided to adopt Edward Elric when he was 7 years old. He had recently lost him mother to an illness and his brother to an accident, it had also left him with 2 automail limps, which when he first came to the couple he was still getting used too.

Despite the couple being young and only in their very early 20's they easily slipped into to the life of being parents, and Edward, despite rejecting most other comfort from others seemed to warm to them too.

Roy and Juliet had been together since high school and had gone through the state alchemist exam together. Roy specialized in flame alchemy and so had been named the flame alchemist, Juliet on the other hand prefered earth alchemy and was known as the maiden alchemist.

As much as they had wanted children they knew that with them both being in the military they wouldn't have the time to look after a baby, which is why they had accepted when they had been asked to take Ed in.

He seemed to be settling in well, because Roy and Juliet's line of work they spent a lot of time at work, Juliet started working part time to take care of Ed, but on the days he wasn't at school she brought him to her office sometimes.

And everyone loved Ed; he had a sparkling personality that drew people to him, Roy's best friend Maes Hughes often attached himself to the lad, taking him to the libary since it appeared Edward loved books. For 7 years everything slipped into place like it was meant to be. Roy and Juliet enroled Ed in a private high school beaucse he was a straight A student.

And it wasn't until many years later when Ed was 14, Juliet was 29 and Roy was 33 that the problems suddenly started.

It was term time so Ed was at school and Juliet and Roy were at work, when Juliet had a phone call.

"Yo Jules you got a phone call" shouted Havoc "Someone from Oakland High school!"

Juliet looked up from her work and walked over to the phone, she spoke for a few moments before a look of panic flashed across her face.

"Is he ok?" she said there was a pause "I'll be right there!" and she hung up, Mustang was already by her side.

"Ed's sick" she said

"Ed's never sick" Mustang replied it was something he had learnt about his "son" many years ago. Edward had severe trypanophobia and he had learnt if he wasn't sick he would never see a doctor. They had found this out a few months after bringing him home, sitting at the breakfast table Riza Hawkeye had come round to meet the new boy, completely distracted by the new lady the 7 year old hadn't paid attention to which drink he was picking up and had drank Juliet's glass of milk instead of his apple juice, the result of this was Ed collapsing on the floor and fitting. The poor kid had had to be admitted to hospital where first the doctor had told them Edward was lactose intolerant, but he had also found as about Ed's severe case of trypanophobia when his blood pressure and heart rate had sky rocketed the moment he realised where he was. If Ed was open inly admitting to being ill something must really be wrong.

"He passed out in the corridor" she said walking around Roy and grabbing her coat from the back of her chair "I'll call you later"

And then she was gone.

"Everything alright?" asked Hughes since his best friend was still standing at Juliet's desk staring into space in the direction she had left.

"I hope so Hughes, i really do".

At the school, Juliet entered and saw Ed, he was sat on a comfy chair, his shirt undone a bit, and he was pale and shaking and looked as though he would fall over at any moment.

Jules got Edward in the car and started driving home; he walked into the house and then sat on the floor near the stairs. He wasn't even able to make it too the stairs, he just had to sit down.

"Ed, are you alright sweetie?" she came over to him and placed a hand on his forehead, it was burning hot.

"Wait here a sec honey" she came back a few moments later with a glass of cold water and a thermometer.

She gave Ed the water to drink after she took this temperature, 39'C.

"Come on honey let's get you to bed with some ice" she said taking him by the arm and helping him upstairs.

She helped him into some thin Pj's and then got a wet cloth and placed it on his forehead to try and bring down his fever. She hadn't failed to notice he hadn't yet spoken.

Soon Ed was asleep so she went down to call Mustang.

Later that night, Mustang came home being dropped off by Hawkeye since Jules had taken the car.

They offered Riza a drink and had a chat.

"So how's Ed doing?" she asked

"I don't know, he has a fever and is looking really pale, I'm sure he'll be fine though" she didn't sound convinced for reasons she couldn't understand.

"I'd better go and check on him"

Going into his room, she could see Ed breathing heavily, sweat poured down his face, he awoke with a start at her touch.

"Let me take your temperature Hun" she said putting the thermometer in his mouth, after a moment she took it out. 42'C

"Roy!"

**A/N: So theres the first bit. I know this story is really random, it comes to me in dreams and daydreams and i just write it down. Please review, it means the world to me and thank you for reading. Chapter 2 should be done pretty soon. Karin x**

**Thank you to those who review and tell me how i can improve my work, i hope its getting better :)  
**


	2. Let the panic set in

"Roy!" the scream came from upstairs, Roy wasted no time in getting up there, taking two steps at a time he got up the stairs and almost ran down the hall to Ed's room.

"What's wrong?" he said running in to Ed's room, Riza followed, her first thought was how terrible the boy looked; he was pale, shaking his long hair sticking to his face and his lips were slightly blue.

"We have to get him to a hospital!" said Juliet and Roy saw Edward instantly react

"No! I'm fine" Ed said his voice raspy and weak. Roy watched Edward become more and more panicked by the thought of hospitals as Juliet asked Riza if she could drive them. So much so that silent tears fell down his face.

"Sweetie look at me" said Juliet taking Ed's face in her hands "You'll be fine, you can get through this" but Ed shook his head and Juliet sighed and turned to Roy who stood forward and gently took Edward under the arms, which was when he realised just how sick the boy was. Not only was his body burning to touch but he didn't put up much resistance, he couldn't his body was too weak.

Taking Edward in his arms, Roy went out the way he came, carefully but quickly going down the stairs and then out into the night.

In the car, his condition got worse; he was starting to lose consciousness, his eyes drifting in and out of focus, and his breathing becoming more and more painful to listen too.

"Keep him awake Jules" said Roy

Juliet wiped his head with a cold cloth, lightly tapping the side of his face in the hope of keeping him awake.

"Come on sweetie don't go to sleep, stay awake for me please" she pleaded and he was trying. Ed loved Juliet and would do anything she asked but it was becoming harder and harder to stay awake; he just wanted to give into the pain and sleep.

After about 10 minutes of trying to keep him awake, Juliet saw Ed's eyes close and felt him body go limp in her arms. Holding him closer to her she could feel his burning skin on hers. This could not be good.

**A/N sorry for the really short chapter, chapter 3 is almost finished and that one is longer i promise. Please review, the more reviews i get the faster i will uploud the next chapter :) thankyou Karin x**


	3. Illness and treatment

The next thing Ed knew his eyes were opening and he was looking at Juliet, her face looked tierd and her long brown hair was pushed behind her ears, something she only did when she was stressed.

"Hey baby, you ok?" Ed tried to look the other way since someone had his flesh arm but Juliet wouldn't let him.

"No honey don't look that way keep looking at me, that's right"

Ed felt the sharp pain in this arm and knew what was going on even before he saw the doctor from the corner of his eye with the used needle.

Ed started to shake and the panic started to set in.

"Come of Sweetie, you'll be fine, just keep talking to me ok".

The next few hours broke Juliet's heart. She hated seeing the fear that was in his eyes as the doctors came in to take his blood, give him pain killers, take more blood, and insert IV drips. But nothing broke her heart as much as when the fear left; his eyes became lifeless and just lay there letting them do whatever.

"What's wrong with him doctor" she asked when Ed was asleep.

The doctor took of his glasses and started to clean them.

"We think the illness his mother died of might be hereditary, he is showing the first symptoms of the disease" Juliet looked horrified and Roy held onto her shoulder

"If you agree, then were going to go ahead with the idea that it is the same illness and so treat him in the hope we have caught it in time".

Roy nodded and asked about the treatment, becoming more and more worried about Ed's wellbeing.

"Well we will hook him up to a blood cleaner which should take away any current blood infection and then with a series of periodic injections, the DNA that is causing the mutation of the blood should right itself".

Juliet had to sit down. She had been looking after Ed for 7 years now, he had become her child and she hated seeing him in pain and the thought of agreeing to this felt like betrayal.

"I'll give you a moment to decide" he said leaving the room, Roy walked over to Ed.

The boys arm was red and swollen from constant needles since they couldn't use his right because of the automail; he was alseep but his features showed no peace indecating that he was still in pain.

"Are we doing the right thing"? Came his girlfriend's voice quietly from behind him

"Would it be kinder to let him suffer like this?" he answered her question with another.

"But the treatment would be like torture to him, he could be mentally damaged! I don't know what to do"

Roy walked over to her and put his arm round her, feeling her body shake from sobs.

"Jules, he's 14 why don't we tell him what's going on and let him decide".

So when Ed awoke a few hours later after the pain killers had worn off, his adoptive parents told him the treatment.

"We won't agree to it if you don't want to baby, but you must know that this treatment will make you better"

There was a pause and then Ed said

"She had it didn't she, my mother, she died from what I've got" it wasn't really a question but Juliet nodded sadly.

Ed gripped her hand; he was unsure what to do. His logical mind was telling him to say yes, that his mother would not want him to share her fate, but his fear was telling him the opposite. Why were they giving him the choice? He lowered his head letting his blonde hair cover his face and masking his fear.

Gripping his adoptive mothers hand harder he spoke before his fear could overtake him completely.

"You won't leave me will you?" he said shaking

"No, of course not" said Juliet the look on her face told Ed she had never planned too.

"Neither of us will" said Roy, this gave Ed the comfort he needed to stop himself from running.

**A/N there we go chapter 3 i said it would be longer. yeh i know all the medical stuff isnt very accurate but you know lol. Anyway the more reviews i get the sooner i'll upload chapter 4 :) thanks Karin x**

**Thank you too saki-nee**** for calming my rush, i'm going through my chapters slowly now trying to fill in the blanks now that the ideas are there :)  
**


	4. Be Brave

True to their word neither Roy nor Juliet left his side.

While the Doctor worked on Ed's arm, Roy chatted to Ed about a new alchemy they had discovered and that he would show his work to him when they got home whilst Juliet stroked his hair, brushing his bangs from his face and comforting him.

Ed gave a small cry of pain as the large needle entered his arm and then had to grip Juliet's hand as the machine started taking out Ed's blood, cleaning it and replacing it.

Ed concentrated on not squeezing Juliet's hand to tight with his automail hand; this took his mind off some of the pain and he didn't dare look to his side where the machine was, knowing he would not be able to cope with the sight.

"Right, it's all set up Ed, the pain won't get any worse from here for a few hours" said the Doctor crouching down and talking to Ed and taking sly glances at the heart monitor he was linked up too, he could see Ed's heart rate was high and still rising.

"I'll be back in a few hours to make sure everything is alright, but if you need me just call" Roy nodded since Ed looked like he was on the verge of breaking down, his eyes staring at nothing, lip quivering and he was shaking from head to foot.

The Doctor could understand; he had seen many people with Ed's phobia (some with less serve cases) come though the hospital doors; they often broke down at treatments such as this one and had to have therapy when they left. He was impressed that Ed, despite having one of the most severe cases he had seen yet of trypanophobia had not only taken the treatment and stayed for the most part calm, but he had chosen to go through the treatment. For a 14 year old, the Dr was impressed.

"You alright Ed?" asked Roy when the Dr left. Ed was pale and shaking slightly, he looked extremely sick by he nodded all the same.

"I'm sorry for keeping you here like this" he said weakly, he knew his parents had better things to do than stay with him.

"Ed you've nothing to apologise for. We love you and would never leave you"

Ed smiled at them, over the last 7 years; these two people had healed the hole in his heart where his family used to be. They hadn't replaced them because they were completely different but Ed felt happy with them. He remembered the first time he had accidently called them mum and dad. He had been 8 and was so embarrassed, but Juliet had hugged him and said not be embarrassed because she would be honoured to be called his mother if that is what he wanted to call her, and Roy said the same thing.

At first he found it slightly awkward since he didn't know if his mother would want this, but one night he had had a dream and his mother and brother had been there and she had said she didn't mind and she was glad he was happy, from then on he had called them mum and dad, and it filled their hearts with joy every time he did.

The cleaner had to be kept on for 10 hours; in that time many people had wanted to visit him. Ed didn't want to see his school friends since he didn't want them to see him so weak, but he didn't mind seeing Riza or Hughes because they were like family.

"Hey kiddo how you doing?" said Hughes gently as he sat down next to Ed while Roy and Juliet went home to get some stuff.

"I'm alright" said Ed still weakly despite him trying to sound stronger "5 hours down 5 to go".

"That's the spirit" and he laughed and then came closer "So did your dad tell you about the new innate alchemy we discovered?"

"Yeh, sound alchemy, it sounds awesome".

An hour and a half later Roy and Jules came back. And too soon for Ed the time came to take the cleaner out.

Once again Ed was holding on to Juliet and concentrating on her hands while the needle was taken out.

Juliet heard him whimper quietly as the needle was pulled out and had to look away herself for a moment as blood started pouring down his arm.

"There we go Edward, that's all done now, give me 5 minutes and I'll get your first shot and then you can rest for the remainder of the night".

The Dr cleaned up the blood and then injected Ed in his leg with the gene therapy, since his arms were red and sore.

"Now you may feel a bit of sickness, since this is going to be tampering with your genes".

Ed was listening on the most part, but he also had his head buried in Juliet's shoulder as she hugged him hard telling him how brave he was.

He may have been 14 but his fear made him no better than a child and Juliet knew treating him like this would make him feel better rather than embarrass him on this occasion.

The next few days, Edward had to continue having the shots of gene therapy. It came to a point where he was calm enough that as long as someone was with him, he was stable, which gave Roy and Juliet the freedom to go home. Although they felt uneasy about doing so.

Ed even felt it alright to see some of his school friends.

"Dude you look rough" said Tom coming in just as Hughes, Riza and the doctor were leaving.

"I feel it" said Ed smiling at his friends; Tom, Winry and James.

"So are you going to be alright?" asked Winry sitting closer to Ed and taking his hand.

"As long as this stupid gene therapy goes to plan then yeah" he said then suddenly going slightly green.

Winry grabbed a sick bowl just in time. Ed threw up the meal he had had this morning as well as a few drops of blood.

"Oh my god that can't be good!" said Winry when she saw the blood.

"No it's fine, been doing that for days" said Ed, still not looking any better.

"That is nasty man" said James passing him a tissue

"Try being on this end of it" said Ed weakly taking the tissue and then lying back against the pillows.

"You alright?" asked Winry

"Yeh, it's always bad just after, it'll get better"

"I can't believe how brave you are, I'd never be able to go through it".

"Let's hope you never have too" said Ed closing his eyes for a moment in the hope of stopping the dizzy feeling that had come over him.

"Rumours are starting to go round school about what's wrong with you; a lot of them go back to your automail but don't worry, none of them come close to the truth".

Ed smiled, he had told his friends the truth since he hated them not knowing and he trusted them not to tell anyone else, the last thing he wanted was everyone to know about his illness.

His friends filled him in on what he was missing and soon Ed could feel his eyes growing tired, another side effect of the drugs. And despite his best efforts he fell asleep.

"Aw he must be so tired" said Winry as the three teens stood to leave; she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

"See you mate, get better soon" said Tom and James as they all left, leaving Ed to sleep.

Alone.

**A/N Sorry its been so long since my last chapter, i've been going through the previous chapters trying to make them better; i hope they are now. Right so the usual deal please review and tell me what you think and how i can improve. Thank you to all those who already have :) the more reviews i get the sooner i uploud the next chapter ;P thank you for reading. Karin x**


	5. going it alone

A few hours later Ed awoke feeling dreadful, and the first thing he did was grab a cardboard sick bowl and throw up the little he had left in his stomach.

Edward then looked around the room, there was no one there. A few days ago Ed would have panicked about this, but he had had so little time alone with his thoughts the last few weeks that he was glad of the time.

"If only I didn't feel like crap" he said aloud to himself, he looked down at his arms, there were bruises and small pinprick scars all the way up it and it was the same on his leg.

"Lovely reminders" Ed looked away and out the window, trying to ignore the pain he was in, he wasn't sure whether his pain was normal or not.

After another 10 minutes passed, Ed had become shaky and hot and his vision was becoming blurred. Something was wrong.

He looked at the buzzer that would bring a Dr to him; the indecision back in his mind.

"I can't do it on my own" he said but he then threw up again even worse than before, but this was not stomach acid, this was blood.

He could hear the heart monitor by his side start to pick up and he felt his fingers go numb.

Putting all other thoughts from his mind he pressed the buzzer; and waited for the torture to begin.

The Dr rushed in took one look at Ed and started yelling orders to other Dr's.

"Lie down Ed" he said helping the boy back onto the pillows, his breathing was picking up and his eyes were dilating.

He called to some nurses to get him some equipment and then turned to Ed as it was coming.

"Ed I want you to close your eyes ok, and keep them closed" as the boy closed his eyes the Dr picked up the instrument.

"This is going to hurt a bit Ed, but try and bear it and keep your eyes closed" he hoped that if he could keep his eyes closed then he would cope better.

The large needle broke the skin of Ed's arm and he cried out in pain but he kept his eyes closed.

"I know Ed, but you nearly there, nearly over"

Ed was in so much pain, he gripped his hand only to find nothing there to hold onto, he wanted Juliet, his mum, and he wanted her to tell her it was all going to be alright and to hold his hand. He didn't care if it was childish he just wanted her.

"There we go Ed" said the Dr removing the needle "You'll start to feel a bit sleepy now, but the pain won't be that bad"

Ed nodded not daring to open his eyes until he heard her voice coming from down the corridor.

"Is he alright!" He heard her shoes on the tile floor and opened his eyes to see her enter and rush to his side. She started stroking his head, tears falling down her face.

"I'm so sorry baby, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you. Your so brave, you'll be ok now" she kept saying and Ed let her hold him as he let the silent tears fall down his face, finally letting the amount of fear he had been in take control.

"Um Miss Tanner is we could speak to you for a moment" Juliet looked up then back at Ed; she kissed his head and then walked over to the Doctor.

"What happened?" she said keeping her eyes on Ed through the window, he had settled down.

"The gene therapy has got rid of the entire mutated DNA however it started to work overtime onto his normal DNA. We gave him a vaccine that stopped the gene therapy".

"So he'll be alright now?"

"Hopefully yes, we'll give him a blood transfusion to make up for the blood that was lost and he should be fine".

Juliet nodded and then walked back to Ed, who looked like he was slowly drifting off.

"You alright honey?" she said sitting on the bed next to him so she could cradle him in her arms.

He nodded, looking sleepier. A while later a nurse came in and hooked him up to a blood IV; he was so tired he didn't notice, which the nurse seemed to be glad about as she sighed in relief as she walked out.

Later as he slept in her arms, Roy came in.

"Hey, I heard there were some problems, everything ok?" he said

"Yeh, they had a bit of a scare when the therapy started killing off his normal DNA as well as the mutated, but they stopped it and are giving him blood. And they said once he can keep food down and shows no sign of new mutated DNA he can come home" she said smiling.

Roy sat next to her.

"Aw the poor kid, no one should have to go through something like this, its times like this that i doubt equivilant exchange" Juliet sighed and nodded at the alchemy reference.

It took another week before Ed stopped throwing his meals up but each blood test they had taken had had positive results. There were no new mutations. Ed was free to go.

He was given some medication to keep his blood pressure down and the Dr gave Roy and Juliet a psychiatrists number, just in case the expereince terned out to be too much for Ed to handle.

It took another month for Ed to get this life back to normal; at first he had had trouble staying awake all day because of the drugs he was on but soon enough he was going back to school.

"Now are you sure you feel alright to go?" asked Juliet for the 100th time that morning.

"Yes mum I'm fine, can I go now?" they were standing outside the school gates.

"And you're sure you don't want me to come in with you?"

"No, I'm fine, you've already rang the headmaster, so you can go now, you're going to be late for work" said Ed still trying to get her to leave.

"Ok, I'm going. Have a nice day and I'll be back at 2 to pick you up"

Ed grimaced

"Can't I just catch the bus at normal time?"

"One step at a time love" said Juliet kissing him on his forehead "good bye" and then she was gone and walked into his tutor room quickly since he was already late due to Juliet's stalling.

"Hey Ed, your back, how you feeling mate?" said Tom when Ed walked into his tutor room.  
"Yeh finally back to normal" Ed replied giving Tom a high 5.

"Ed!" cried Winery throwing herself at him in a huge embrace "I've missed you so much, are you feeling better, are you sure you're alright to be here?"

"God Winery you sound worse than my mum" said Ed laughing.

"Edward Elric, I see you've finally decided to show your face" Ed turned round to see Envy, another boy in his year who thought he was better than everyone and he especially hated Ed, because everyone liked him.

"Where've you been then shorty"

Ed clenched his fists. He was slightly shorter than the average 14 year old and he hated being called short.

"Just let it go mate" said Tom standing behind him and Ed released his fist and turned away from Envy.

"Your right, he isn't worth it" This angered Envy. He grabbed Ed's shoulder and pulled him down to the ground.

"Who you calling worthless!" he cried and tried to punch Ed, luckily for Edward Roy had been teaching him close combat since he was 9 so he had good reflexed, he managed to roll out of the way just in time.

Standing up the two boys circled each other, and Envy struck.

He missed Ed again by inches. Ed may have been feeling better but his body was still weaker and slower than it had been.

Envy's fist contacted with Ed's stomach causing him to fall to the floor and cough up some blood.

"Oh my god! Envy stop it" cried Winery running to Ed's side "He comes back after being sick and the first thing you do if beat him up!"

"Move out the way you stupid retard!" That hurt her, it was common knowledge that she was slightly dyslectic but it was also a painful area for her. Ed didn't like people insulting his friends, especially Winry.

Using his weight on his metal leg he punch upward with his opposite arm, there was a strange sound as his fist and Envy's face connected and Envy went flying.

"What the hell, how did you put so much weight behind that!" cried Evy as blood poured down his nose.

Ed lifted his sleeve to revile his automail which he had connected together using alchemy to make it even heavier.

"You son of a bitch" said Envy, pinching his nose and taking his seat as the Tutor came in.

"What on earth his going on here? Envy, Edward why are you both bleeding? Honestly Ed we don't see you for 3 months and you're already the centre of attention" he said.

Envy's first to his stomach hadn't done Ed any good, he lay on the grass with his friends at lunch feeling like crap.

"You alright mate? You look kind of pasty" said James leaning over Ed

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired" said Ed not opening his eyes.

"Your mum's coming to pick you up soon right?" asked Tom also looking over at Ed; James, Tom and Winry had all agreed that after the fight with Envy Ed had lost the colour in his face and wasn't looking particularly healthy.

"Yeh, I'll be in for a full day next week sometime if they will let me".

"Don't take it too fast mate" said James sitting back down on the grass "it's not like you had a minor illness, you could have died. Just take it easy".

Ed opened his eyes and looked sadly at the sky; no one had ever put it that way before, which was silly since it was true. He could have died.

"Your right" he looked at his watch "anyway I got to go" he sat up and walked away, and as he drew closer to the main gates where his mum was picking him up, he coughed again into his hand.

And there, showing clearly against his pale skin was blood.

"This can't be good" Ed said to himself quietly, but he whipped the blood off with a tissue before he met Juliet at the gate.

**A/N my first update in a while becuase no one was really reading it, so if you are enjoying it and want me to keep updating please review, cause i dont want to keep writing if no one is reading if you get my drift. So yeh i hope you like this chapter. Thank you darkangeltakara for your lovely message, this chapter is for you :) Karin x**


	6. Alexa

Later that day Ed was helping Juliet pick colours for curtains. Juliet and Roy had been asked to take in a 6 year old girl who the military was interested in. At first they weren't sure but Ed had convinced then to say yes. He was looking forward to having her, he liked kids and besides if there was someone else to take care of they would stop fussing over him and his illness.

"Which do you think?" said Juliet holding up two fabrics "Pink or Purple?"

Ed shrugged fiddling with the chain around his wrist that the hospital had given him to show that he had had a medical condition.

"I dunno, why don't we ask her?" Juliet sighed and put down the fabrics.

"Your right, gosh I don't remember taking you in being this stressful"

Roy laughed as he came in the room

"That's not how I remember it, our first kid, 7 years old, with new automail. It was pretty stressful if I remember rightly".

"Sorry about that" said Ed putting his hand to his head in embarrassment, knowing that he had never been an easy child to take care of.

"I wouldn't have had it any other way" said Juliet kissing the top of Ed's head and she stood up and walked to the sink.

"So what's so special about her?"

"Who, Alexa?" Ed nodded "I think your dad knows more about it than I do"

Roy smiled

"If our findings are correct she's the very first person to be born with the natural reaction of sound frequency alchemy".

"Say what?" said Ed; there had been a lot of confusing words in that sentence.

"As I told you a few weeks ago Sound alchemy cannot be taught, you have to have the right ear for it"

"In other words you have to be born with it?" Said Ed

"Exactly, only we've never heard of anyone ever using it, until now. The news of Alexa came to us a few days ago, she was in an orphanage which came under attack, she was one of the few who survived. The attackers were found with burst eardrums and claimed she had simply screamed and the world had started rocking. Hence why the military is curious".

"And hence why we are taking her in, I don't want a child staying in the military base any more than I wanted Ed too" she stopped, they had never told Ed why they had taken him in, but the door had just been opened.

"They wanted something from me too didn't they?" he asked looking down at the table.

"Yes, when they heard about the accident with human transmutation and that you had survived they were curious, and they are also curious about your ability to use alchemy without a transmutation circle" Roy looked at Ed who was still for a moment and then shrugged

"I always thought there was a reason, oh well I guess that's what happens when you try things you're not meant to" and he smiled.

Roy and Juliet were glad that he wasn't worried about the military wanting him; in fact he seemed almost happy about it.

But whichever way, the deal was that they would not approach Ed until he was 17, in legal turns Edward had past the state alchemist exam when he was 12 years old but they would tell him this when he left school at 17.

Three days later 2 military men appeared with a little girl.

Like Edward when he had first been brought to Roy and Juliet 7 years ago, the girl did not cling to the men; she kept her distance from them. Unlike Edward however who had looked around in curiosity, Alexa kept her eyes to the ground. But what really drew attention was the tattoos which were up her arms, legs, neck and peaked on the sides of her face. They looked like transmutation circles. The reports stated they had appeared after the attack and after Alexa had used SF alchemy.

"Hello, Alexa. My names Juliet, this is Roy and this is Edward. We're going to be looking after you".

The little girl responded only in taking a step away from Juliet.

"Well we'll leave her with you then" said one of the men and they left.

"Are you hungry?" Juliet tried again but she simply shook her head not raising her eyes, hiding her face behind her long red hair.

Edward remembered how arriving had felt, he had been scared and just wanted to be alone at first.

"Do you want me to show you your room?" he said extending his hand to her. She looked up slowly, looking him up and down with her big grey eyes and then slowly she took his hand and let him lead her upstairs.

"Well blow me, looks like Ed really has a way with kids" said Roy wrapping and arm around Juliets shoulders and leading her into the kitchen so they could start dinner.

Meanwhile upstairs, Ed tried to get the girl to talk and to his surprise she loosened up

"So how old are you Alexa?"

"Nearly 7" she said as they walked down the corridor to her room, when outside the door Ed said

"Ah so you do have a voice, why didn't you talk down stairs?"

"Don't like grownups" she said "The grownups in that other place we mean and the grownups that hurt the other kids were meaner" she looked down at the ground.

"Hey, hey" said Ed kneeling down and putting his hands on her shoulders.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore, ok? No one will hurt you here, I won't let it. And you don't have to be afraid of Roy and Juliet, they are really nice."

She looked up meetings Ed's gold eyes with her silver ones.

"Are they your mummy and daddy"?

"Kind of, they aren't my real mum and dad but they are now".

Alexa nodded showing that she understood.  
"Some of kids at the other place went with new mummy and daddy's" the sad look came on her face whenever she thought about it.

"You don't have to think about it anymore Alexa. We can be your family now"

Her eyes lit up she seemed happy at this statement, as Ed took her hands in his she glanced down

"Whats this?" she asked playing with the chain as Ed had a habit of doing.

"The Doctors gave it to me. I've been really sick so i need to wear it just i case i get sick again"

Her eyes widened "But you better now?" Ed smiled weakly

"Kinda, i still feel a bit wobbly but you gotta keep that between me and you alright, out secret"

She smiled and nodded, she liked this Edward he seemed to understand her and he wasn't a grownup so he didn't scare her. And when she thought about it Juliet and Roy had seemed nice too.

So she decided to trust them and it wasn't long until she had fit in with family life.

**_A/N wow its been ages since i updated. but its your guys fault i've been waiting for reviews :P This chapter is dedicated to my latest reviews Animemad10 , thankyou for your lovely words. I have written the next chapter to this story but your not getting it until i get 5 more reviews (thats 15 in total) so if you read please send a quick review other wise YOU GET NOTHING MWAHAHAHAHAHHAA. thanks for reading. Karin x_**


	7. 10 years on

_**A/N My cruelty paid of i never thought i would get so much feed back so fast. thankyou all for your lovely comments. Here is the next chapter i hope you like it. and before you read further, remember if you want the next chapter you have to review. Ill update when i have a total of 20 reviews ;) enjoy. Karin x  
**_

_**10 years later**_

"Alex, if you want a lift hurry up" yelled Ed up the stairs, he was eating a piece of toast and wearing his state alchemist uniform. In the 10 years since Alexa first arrived many things had happened. For starters Roy and Juliet finally got married. Ed had been accepted as a state alchemist at 17 and Alexa had been trained by the military to use and control the sound frequency alchemy. She was their secret weapon. Ed was now 24 and Alexa or Alex as she was now known was 16.

"I'm coming!" she said running down the stairs; she was wearing tight leggings and a small tank top which showed off the transmutation tattoos on her arms and neck, the ones on her face she had covered with makeup.

She ran past Ed into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the side.

"Right I'm ready!"

"Are you really going to just wear flip flops?" asked Juliet from the table, looking up from her paper.

"Mum it's not like I keep my shoes on anyway"

"Ok, if you're sure, but at least take a jumper if only for decency's sake" Alex rolled her eyes.

"I've got one in my bag, Ed you ready?"

Ed shoved the rest of his toast in his mouth and grabbed a bottle from the inside of the fridge with one hand while he read his mail with the other.

"Wrong bottle love" said Juliet

"Huh? Oh thanks" said Ed realising he had picked up Juliet's chocolate milk rather than his apple juice "I could have sworn they are normally the other way round"

"Don't look at me" said Alex biting into her apple as she left the room.

Later that day Ed and Alex were walking down the stairs from the 4th floor.

"Honestly Ed I think I've almost got it, a bit more practise and I think I'll be able to connect my soul with the sound waves!"

"That sounds really cool but be careful, don't hurt yourself. Are you coming home?"

"No I've got a report due, ah crap my jumpers gone!" Ed looked at her fumbling in her bag.

"Gah I must have left it upstairs"

"Do you need it?" said Ed looking outside, it was still quite hot.

"No, but mum will want me to have it in the morning and I'm gonna be late. You couldn't get it and take it home for me could you?"

Ed sighed by nodded, but Alex smiled and kissed him on the cheek

"Thank you" and skipped off. Ed turned on his heels shaking his head, once again he had let his little sister convince him to do something, sighing again he

started walking back up the stairs when he neared the 4th floor he heard something "Hey is anyone there?" and then smelt a strange smell. It was almost like almonds.

The world started spinning, he couldn't keep his balance and soon he felt his legs buckle, with the sensation of falling and the pain as he hit every step.

Falling down 4 flights of steps. It seemed to take forever but still happened to fast to do anything about it.

At the bottom, Ed felt his head slam harder than ever on the floor and the red stars burst over his eyes before it went dark.

"Alex!" Furey rounded the corner of the book case to find Alex finishing up on her report.

"Oh hey, what's the rush" she said smiling, she liked Furey he was quirky and fun unlike some of the others who seemed to be either uptight and cranky or just plain weird...Armstrong for instance.

"You've got to come with me, it's Ed" the panic in his voice was contagious.

"What's happened?" she said following him and as they approached where Alex had last seen Ed she saw there were a lot of people gathered as well as an ambulance.

Pushing past some of the people in the crowd she got to the front to see some paramedics lifting Ed on a stretcher, they had a oxygen mask over his face, a bracer around his nick and were checking his eyes. He was deathly still.

"What happened?" Alex repeated quietly trying to walk towards Ed but was stopped by a pair of strong arms.

"Alex, come on, this way"

"No, I have to go with him, he hates doctors!" Alex tried to pull against the arms but they pull her away until she collapsed in defeat in Roy's arms.

"Dad he's going to be alright isn't he?" Roy helped her out of the building and into the car.

"Dad!"

"Yeh sure he is honey, we need to get your mother and then go to the hospital".

Alex looked at him in despair, the tone of voice he had used, the frequency of the beats. She always knew when someone was lying and that was what Roy was doing when he said "Yes".

Alex brought her knees up to her face, feeling so vaunerable, Ed had been the first friend she had ever had the first person she had ever trusted.

What would she do without Ed?

**A/N Thanks for reading. I hope you like Alex's character, and i swear i'm not torturing Ed there is a point to him always ending up in pain ;) please review (total of 20 and i'll update) until next time. Karin x**


	8. Nightmare

**Ed's prov**

This place was strange; it had a night sky full of red stars that shone a strange red haze onto the world below. There were people there below him, 5 to be accurate.

Moving closer to them he realised that these people were Roy, Juliet, Alex and…himself. But all of them were younger. Years younger, Ed remembered the shirt he was wearing, black and baggy with a red symbol on the front. He had worn that constantly when he was 16, which meant that Alex must have been 9 or somewhere around there.

She was in Roy's arms, watching everything that was going on around them with her big grey eyes her hair in braids that hung on either side of her face.

"We just need to test some of your blood Edward" said the 5th man that the present Ed hadn't been paying heed too.

"Why? It's been 2 years since the illness, why do you want to check?"

"Because we want to make sure that the treatment you received has continued to work" the man was old and tired with an aged face and whitening hair. Ed remembered him vaguely, to be honest his memory had been overrun by fear but he remembered what had come next.

Juliet had held his head to her shoulder so he wouldn't see the needle, but he had still felt the panic attack coming on. His heart rate began to pick up and catching his breath seemed to become more difficult, but then he had felt another hand on his. A small hand.

He had looked up to see a pair of big greys eyes smiling at him and he felt all his fear drift away and she whispered to him. Ed couldn't remember what she had said and he couldn't hear her now, but there was something about her voice that had calmed him.

Ed watched as blood was taken from his younger self and as Alex hugged him tight as silent tears fell from his eyes.

"What's the point of this?" he said as he watched. He had felt the presence of the person behind him; he turned to see a young boy of around 6 looking up at him.

"Why are you showing this to me Al?"

"Because they are coming for her?" said Al pointing to Alex, Ed followed the gesture and then turned back to his little brother.

"Who is?"

"You got in the way; they were not trying to hurt you. You went up instead of her" Ed frowned in confusion.

"What are you talking about, where was she supposed to go up? Who is after her!" he clenched his fists in frustration.

"They want their secret to remain, you must stop them brother, and if you don't then they will kill her for sure"

Ed took a step forward towards his brother and then felt the nausea, the world started spinning, or was he spinning. The scene from the past melted away and Al started to disappear.

"Wait, Al please tell me who's after her?"

"Stop them brother" Al was almost completely gone.

"No Al, please don't leave me again. Al, Al, Alphones, Al!"

"Al!" Ed cried his eyes flying open. The red stars were gone and had been replaced by white shining light as his senses established themselves he heard a beeping to his side and murmurs to the other.

"Ed? Edward can you hear me?" his eyes focused on the dark shape above him, black hair, blue coat. It was Roy.

"Dad? What happened?" he said his voice was raspy from disuse and talking made his head start spinning.

"Well I was hoping you could tell me, all we know is that you fell down some steps"

Ed thought about this and could remember falling down, and the more he thought about it the more he could remember each painful blow.

"4 flights to be precise" he said "I went back up to level four to get Alex's jumper"

"Well I guess amnesia isn't a problem" said Roy lightly "You know you're lucky, you could have broken your neck as it is you've got concussion, a fractured wrist and a hell of a lot of bruising".

The door opened and Alex came in, she wore baggy trousers and an old shirt of Ed's which covered all of her tattoos.

"I thought I heard your voice" she said walking over to Ed and lightly kissing his forehead "How you feeling?"

"Stiff" said Ed managing a light laugh but then winced as this cuased him some pain.

"Do you remember anything?" she asked him, trying to get to the bottom of what happened, Ed wasn't clumbsy and he would have used alchemy to stop himself falling if he could.

"Not much" he admitted "I remember leaving you and then walking up to level four, I don't ever remember getting there, just the pain of falling".

"And reason why you fell?" asked Roy but Ed gave an awkward shrug.

"I don't know, I vaugly remember hearing someone on the level but I never saw them"

Ed thought for a moment, there was something else something important.

"Not much to go on" said Roy standing up, he had to get back to the office; Ed would be fine here with Alexa.

"Almonds" said Ed as Roy reached the door.

"What?"

"I remember smelling almonds and then everything started spinning and I fell" there was a pause as Roy considered this.

"Cyanide" said Alex looking from one man to the other "That explains the smell and why you fell, it would knock you out in seconds".

"Why was there cyanide on level 4? Unless you did hear someone, in which case maybe someone was trying to hurt you or worse".

Roy left the room in a hurry then, Ed listen to Alex as she told him about everything that had happened here while was knocked out, something wasn't sitting right with Ed though. Why would someone be after him and how did they know he was going up to level 4, he very rarely went up there, only ever to pick up Alex after she was working.

Unless it wasn't him they were after.

**A/N Haha more unanswered questions, and i knew i had to get Al in there somewhere ;) anyway same again people 25 reviews and i'll update...though i have finally caught up with the chapters i wrote ages ago so i actually had to think and write the next one! havent done that in a while :O thank you all for reviewing keep em coming. Karin x**


	9. being followed

The dream Ed had had while he was unconscious was still going over in his mind, he couldn't decide whether it was real or just his imagination. All he knew was that he was glad it was him, the doctors had told him that the only reason he didn't break his neck was because his automail took most of the impact. If it had been Alex falling down those stairs, she would have died.

But real or not Ed still couldn't shake the memory of his brother, even now nearly 20 years on he still felt guilty for his brother's death. Alphonse had died after he and Ed had tried to bring their mother back to life using human transmutation alchemy. That was how Ed lost his limps and how he was able to use alchemy without a circle.

"Ed?" Ed's eyes flicked to his side, Alex was stood in the door way, Ed could tell she was mad, her red hair made the red of her face stand out like fireworks on New Year's.

"What's wrong?" She came in and sat on the edge of his bed

"They didn't find anything on the 4th floor, so they are passing it off as nothing, that it was a fault on your part".

He sighed, he had a feeling something like this would happen, and something about the whole situation seemed so vague; maybe it was just him.

"But I know that's not true" whimpered Alex, Ed could feel the distress in her voice.

"Alex?" She sobbed once before putting her hands to her face

"I think someone has been following me, I keep feeling someone behind me but when I look there's no one there" Ed opened his arms to her and carefully cuddled up to him.

"I'm so scared Ed, I don't know what to believe anymore" they stayed like that for a long while. Ed knew how talented Alex had become with her alchemy; she could sense things around her using the sound waves. So if she says someone was following her. Then there was someone there.

After Ed was let out of hospital he was allowed leave from work, so he spent his time keeping an eye one his sister, Al's words still fresh and burning in his mind.

Weeks past and nothing new happened, and life started to return to normal, Ed's injuries were healing well and he would soon be going back to work. Although that did worry him since it meant he couldn't keep as close and eye on Alex.

Though even that didn't seem to be enough.

They were at the pool and Alex was lying face up in the water, concentrating.

"So um…why are we in a pool?" Ed asked Alex's co-worker Dairen Quicksilver.

"Call yourself a scientist" Darien muttered and then sighed "sound waves are very powerful and when going through air they move extremely fast, but when they are in water they are slowed down, so when Alex is trying to sync her soul with them it's easier to do in water".

Ed nodded though, he wasn't completely sure he understood, and so he just watched Alex.

Her tattoos started to glow as she focused on all the sound waves that were passing through the water, her eyes glowed gold and then she gasped and became submerged in the water.

Darien didn't seem to bothered so Ed guessed this was normal. A few more moments passed and Darien straightened up looking into the water, the ripples had stopped and Alex didn't seem to be resurfacing.

"Something's wrong" said Darien looking over at Ed "She's not meant to stay under this long, she needs oxygen".

"Go and get her!" said Ed but he saw the other man shake his head

"Are you kidding me, I can't swim!" Ed took a few seconds to consider what exactly this guy's purpose was before kicking off his boots and jumping in to the deep water.

He swam down to where he saw Alex go under and he saw her right at the bottom on the pool, she appeared to be being held there, but the only thing Ed could see in the water were strange ripples although when he looked at the imprint on Alex's arm he could see hand prints.

Swimming to her he took her by the arms, the imprints vanished, and then started for the surface, but already he could feel the weight of his automail dragging him down and he was running out of air.

"Why does this keep happening to me" he thought as the black smudges started dancing in front of his vision. But just as he was sure they were both gonna die air reached his lungs as he hit the surface.

Darien ran to them and helped them onto the side where Ed didn't waste a moment. Opening Alex's mouth and tipping her head back he pinched her nose and put his mouth against hers breathing deeply 5 times before taking his hands and pumping against her chest.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5"

"Seriously dude what happened down there?"

"12, 13, 14, 15" Ed ignored his and kept up the steady beat "23, 24, 25, 26" come one Alex.

Suddenly she started coughing up water.

"Alex are you alright?" said Ed hugging her

"Oh Ed, i couldn't get back up, something was holding me down!"

Ed rocked her slowly and told Darien to call 911. "I know Alex, I know".

**A/N Gosh im exasusted. I was off sick today which i why i was updating so quickly. Here is the next chapter I hope you enjoy. Thankyou for all you lovely words, and i am going to continue being mean. The next chapter will be updated when i have 32 reviews ;) mainly cause i havent finsihed writing it yet. I know reviewing is a pain in the backside but it makes me feel loved and gives me motivation to keep writing. until next time. Karin x  
**


	10. Promise

"I've already told you, I didn't see anyone but I felt something pulling me down" Alex had been brought home after the incident; she had been put to bed and not allowed to move from it.

Roy and Juliet were trying to get to the bottom of what had happened but so far what both of their children were saying just wasn't making sense.

"So your telling me that an invisible person was trying to drown you" Juliet asked eye brow slightly raised, Alex was starting to get frustrated.

"Yes… No...Maybe…uh I don't know I'm telling you what I thought" she groaned putting her head in her lap.

"I think you've been working too hard honey"

"Working too hard?" cried Alex "You think I'm working too hard? Is that what you thought when Ed fell down those stairs? Something is going on someone is out to get us!"

"Or out to get you" said Ed before he really thought about it, Juliet and Roy turned on him

"Edward!"

"I'm sorry but it's something I've been thinking about for a while, Alex said she felt like someone was following her and my accident could have so easily happened to her, it was a 1 in a million chance that I had gone up instead of her. And after what happened today, I dunno I think she's right, something's going on".

Juliet was losing her patience, didn't either of them understand how idiotic they both sounded. These were accidents and nothing more.

Taking Ed outside both parents rounded on him.

"What were you thinking fuelling her imagination like that!" said Roy, Ed stared at him in disbelieve and yelled

"What are you talking about? You know as well as I do that Alex doesn't make things up. And besides when I went down into the water to get her I saw something. I don't know what it was but I saw a hand imprint on her arm like a hand was putting pressure on it. Now what do you think about that?"

Roy shook his head slowly "You've both been through a lot in the last couple of weeks Ed, and I'm not sure you're your completely recovered. Maybe we should take you to get checked out?"

And then for the first time since Ed had been living with Roy and Juliet he completely lost his temper.

"You can't see what is plainly under your nose, there is someone out to get Alex and your more concerned about my health than her safety. And before you say it" he said to Roy before he could contradict "I don't know exactly why anyone would be after her but I can think of plenty of guesses. Her alchemy for one thing!"

"No one but the military knows about her alchemy" Roy intervened quickly

"Are you so sure about that?" There was a silence as they all considered this, during this silence Ed's adrenaline started to deplete. But with it went his balance, the world was starting to go a little wobbly, he felt hot and could feel blackness creeping behind his eyes.

"Anyway think about it" said Ed quietly and he started walking towards his room

"Ed honey are you alright?" asked Juliet, she hadn't failed to notice that his face had paled considerably and as he walked away he didn't look to steady on his feet.

"Yeh I'm fine" Ed didn't turn round and Juliet couldn't help her eyes from glancing to the chain around his wrist. He would tell her is there was a problem. Wouldn't he?

Ed managed to make it to his room but before he closed the door there was a knock at it, he looked round to see Alex.

"What are you?"

"I can always tell when your lying, your not alright" she led him over to his bed and helped him lie down. Ed put his automail hand on his forehead to try and cool himself down.

"It hasn't happened in a while" Ed removed his hands and shrugged in reply, then took Alex's hand in his.

"Thank you"

"For what?"

"All these years, you've kept my secret and your always there when I need you" Alex blushed it was true she had thought of telling Roy and Juliet after the first time Ed had had an attack like this but she had kept her promise and after the 3rd she knew that Ed always recovered from them. Ed's illness had left his immune system weak, so whenever he was highly stressed his body went into an attack. After a while through the darkness Ed's voice said weakly

"Alex…no matter…no matter what happens…I …I wont let them …hurt you. I'll protect you…I promise".

And then he blacked out.

**A/N I a push over. I get one email from someone asking me to please please please add the next chapter and here it is. Don't even think about it. it would work again ;) here is the next chapter. 35 reviews and you can have the next. And here's a competition is anyone cares lol. If you can guess who is after Alex, then i'll show you the last chapter before anyone else ;) good luck. Karin x**


	11. Attack

When Ed awoke the next morning Alex was gone, he had a faint memory of waking up after the attack and seeing her leave. He sighed his body was exhausted, these attacks were starting to take their toll. They were like bee stings, each time he had one they would get slightly worse.

"No good, got to get up" he said to himself, dragging his body out of bed and getting ready for work.

Despite everything everyone had said the previous day Alex was down stairs and ready to go too, Ed eyed her suspiciously as she sat one the kitchen unit reading the back of the newspaper while swinging her legs.

Ed went into the fridge and pulled out a carton "Apple juice?" he offered her.

"No thanks" she didn't look up

"You know I never see you drinking this, it's good for you"

"So is milk" Ed pulled a face at her as she looked at him over the paper, eyes twinkling, knowing that the mere mention of the word makes him shiver.

"You know it's not healthy for me" he said watching her as she jumped off the side moving to the fridge and pulling out the milk.

"Same scenario with me and apples" she winked. Ed blinked how could he forget that she was allergic to apples, it wasn't exactly a common allergy…wait a second…Alex is allergic to apples.

Suddenly Ed's memory went back to weeks ago when he had pulled the wrong bottle out of the fridge. Luckily Juliet had stopped him before he gulped down milk; otherwise the circumstances would have been dreadful. But they would have been the same if Alex had picked up his drink. And with Roy's OCD about having things in order it was strange that they would be the wrong way round.

"Alex" he said weakly she looked at him from the corners of her eye "be careful today alright"

She smiled at him weakly and nodded.

At work Ed felt trapped, his sister was in trouble and he knew it. He didn't know why, or from whom and there was no one who could help him.

He stayed with her as much as he could, afraid that the moment she was out of sight something would happen to her. The day was drawing to an end and he thought he had survived another day. But life's not that fair for our little hero though, is it.

The explosion occurred just as they were about to walk out of the building, it knocked them to the ground; Alex lay there withering in pain from the sound of the blast. It was too loud and it had sent her alchemy ears on over time. Ed lay next to her dazed for a few moments before jump starting back into action.

"Alex come on we need to get out of here!" He tried to pick her up but her eyes suddenly widened as her ears finally picked something up.

"Ed the pillar it's gonna fall!" and sure enough a decorative pillar on the outside of the doorway had been damaged and was now falling towards them. Ed pushed Alex out of the way and went to jump himself, one of the lose stones from the pillar clipped his arm sending him to the ground. Alex ran to his side.

"When I find these bastards that are after you…I'm gonna kill them for all the pain they put me through" he said through gritted teeth.

"Well if you stop getting in the way then maybe it wouldn't hurt so much" Both turned round to see a strange man walking towards them. Neither had ever seen him before but there was something about him that seemed so familiar, maybe it was his face, or eyes or strange tattoos over his body.

"Who the hell are you?" Ed yelled trying to get in front of Alex but being slowed down by the pain of his arm and the blackness in his eyes as another attack threatened to make an entrance.

"Listen and I will tell you" he sneered as his tattoos began to glow, suddenly the air around them seemed crushing and it was the best Ed could do not to pass out there and then.

Alex drew an intake of breath, unable to think straight or form any kind of sentence other than "My god".

This made him sneer even more; he drew near to her ear and whispered

"That's right Alexa, we are".

**A/N You guys are getting good with the reviews i'm finding it hard to keep up lol :) The competetion still stands, no one had the right answer yet but this chapter has given all the clues. The identity of this new guy will be reveled in the next chapter. Not too long to go now till the end. 40 reviews and you can have the next. See you then Karin.**


	12. Thank you

Ed's fist connected with the strange man's face, knocking him away from Alex.

"I don't care who you think you are, you don't go anywhere near my sister!" People were trying to get close to them to help them but they didn't seem to be able to get close enough. As though there was some kind of barrier between them. Roy and Juliet were among them.

"You" Alex stuttered "You're a sound alchemist. I didn't know there were others"

The man sat up rubbing his face from the impact, his sneer still plastered on his mouth "We prefer to keep a low profile. Something that you are compromising".

Cat like he pounced towards her only to be knocked to the ground again by Ed who held him down and punching him in the face.

"I told you to stay away from her!" Ed stopped in his tracks as the man began to laugh menacingly.

"Stop making so much noise boy, you making this too easy for me"

Ed angered "Shut your mouth, I won't let you hurt her!"

"Since you're so desperate to get in the way, I'll finish you off first" The guy then went limp and Ed was hit from the side but when he turned round to attack, there was nothing there. But the hits kept coming, literally from nowhere.

"What the hell?" Ed had seen some strange things in his time but this was ridiculous, he was being beaten up by the air!

"_So you're telling me an invisible person was trying to drown you?" _Juliet's words from the previous night rang so true and clear. There had been an invisible person trying to drown her!

"Ed, he's a sound alchemist! He's synced his soul with the sound waves!" Alex cried still crippled from the shock and unable to move from the floor.

"And what the hell am I meant to do with that piece of information!" shouted Ed just as the "invisible being" finally jumped him, pinning him to the ground and cutting off his air supply.

"Oh my God, Edward!" Ed could once again see the black dots in front of his eyes. This was it. He knew he couldn't fight anymore. Did he have any regrets? Plenty. He regretted killing his brother by trying to bring their mother back. He regretted putting Roy and Juliet through all the crap his illness had over the last 20 years. He regretted never telling Winry how much he loved her. But most of all he regretted how he couldn't protect, Alex, the little girl who had kept his secret, who had calmed him with her soft calming voice every time he was sick. And then all of a sudden he remembered what she had said to him that day so long ago, that day that Al had showed him in the dream.

I'll protect you.

"EDWARD!" the scream echoed loudly around the walls and Alex slumped to the ground, Ed could see her body in the corner of his eye through his blurred vision.

"I don't believe it" he heard his attacker say before he felt him fly off him and air finally returned to Ed's lungs.

He couldn't sit up or see particularly well but he could still hear everything going on.

"So you finally managed to sync your soul with sound, clever girl. But a little too late! You can't beat me, I am the most powerful alchemist ever, and I will not be beaten by a brat like you!"

There were sounds like clapping and violent shudders of the earth as they fought. Alex was giving everything she had and it soon became clear that no matter how strong this strange alchemist was Alex was a born fighter and he could not beat her. Finally there was a cry of pain from a male voice as well as moving footsteps. Suddenly Juliet was above him, the alchemist's sound barrier had been destroyed.

"It's ok baby, you're alright".

From what Juliet could see, Alex had the alchemist's soul pinned down by her own.

"Join us Alexa! We sound alchemist are Gods, were are not bound to our bodies as these mer mortals are! Help me dispose of these witnesses and we shall disappear. Bide our time and when we are ready will with rule over this world! They cannot stop us"

" I think your crazy! and I'm gonna make sure you never hurt me or my family ever again!" Juliet looked over as the alchemist's body breathed back to life; he looked around started and tried to get away.

"Arrest him!" shouted Roy hugging Alex as her body also breathed to life.

The alchemist was arrested and taken to a sound proof cell where his alchemy was useless but he didn't go without a fight.

"Ha-ha, you may have won this fight Alexa but I still got one in! That brother of yours doesn't look so good hahahahahahahaha and when i am free i will make you pay dearly" his voiced echoed away.

"Are you ok Alex?" Roy asked her, she nodded standing up shakily and moving over to Ed.

He was pale, his body burning up and his breathing shallow. His body was going under an attack but Alex had never seen one this bad.

"Alex, you did it" said Ed before a coughing fit over took him and blood filling his mouth "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you"

Tears started to form in her eyes and she kissed his forehead and whipped the blood away "Ed you did protect me, if it wasn't for you I never would have survived" her hands found his as he started to shake.

"We need to get him to hospital" said Juliet to Roy but Ed shook his head, causing another silent tear to fall from Alex's face.

"Na" he said "it's too late for that. It's my time to go"

"Do be silly Edward, you're going to be fine, you'll see" but even Juliet could now see she was clinging to straws. Ed was fading too fast.

"Thank you. Both of you. You've been the greatest parents anyone could ask for" Roy used his jacket to put under Ed's head to try and make him comfortable.

"And thank you for being the most amazing son we could have dreamed of having". Roy could hear sirens in the distance but knew it was too late.

"And Alex"

"Yeh"

"Thanks, you kept your promise, both of them. But make me one more promise" the tears were flowing freely from her eyes now; she didn't try to hold them back.

"Anything. Anything Ed".

"Alexa, my little sister. Promise me you'll go out there. And be the best damn sound alchemist ever. Don't let all this be for nothing".

"I promise"

"Good" Ed sighed and started to feel himself drift off and breathing was becoming more challenging.

"I'm gonna go to sleep now" he said looking at his family one more time. Before he closed his eyes.

**A/N Only one more chapter to go. Don't tell anyone but I wrote this at work, while no one was looking ;) I was going to be mean and say 50 reviews to get the last one but then my friend pointed out that some weird math calculation and i don't have enough reviews to do that. so i'll stick with 45. Nobody guessed who the mystery man was so your all just gonna have to wait for the chapter ;) Until then. Karin x .p.s. i wasn't happy with this chapter so i've editied it slightly.  
**


	13. The End

White. Everything's white.

And I can breathe; I can breathe so easily here, the pain has gone.

"Brother?" I can hear Al, my brother I'm with my brother. My eyes adjust to the shadow above me and my heart skips in shock as I see a suit of armour.

"Brother it's alright, you're alright, calm down" This armour has my brothers voice, I look around slowly at my surroundings, this can't be right. If I'm dead then they sure got everything wrong when they spoke about what happens after death. Because what I see are white washed walks and white tiled floors, along with machines which are hooked up to me body.

"Am I dead?" I asked the armour, who's strange red eyes seemed to radiate confusion.

"Umm no. are you alright brother" I blink at him. I'm not dead? But then…

"Where am i?"

"You're in a hospital, you've been ill brother, you had such a high fever they had to induce a coma, and you've been unconscious for about a month now".

"What?" My mind was spinning, this couldn't be real. I stared at this strange armour and in him I saw my reflection. I was no longer a man of 24 I was a child of 16.

"The Doctor told me you were awake" I turn my head to see Roy, "How you feeling Fullmetal"

Fullmetal? Not Son, or kiddo or Ed. Fullmetal.

Then the memories hit me like a ton of bricks. The accident, the automail surgery, the state alchemist exam, Roy, not Dad but Cornel Bastard, the philosopher stone, Al, and finally the raging fever that had taken over me at work. Roy had forced me to go to the hospital where I had got worse. After that everything was a blank.

"I don't understand" I said shaking my head, tears escaping my eyes "Alex, Juliet"

"What are you talking about brother?"

"I lived a whole different life, you were dead Al, and it was my fault, Roy and Juliet they adopted me when I was 7. But I got sick, with the disease that killed Mom, and then we adopted Alexa, she was a sound alchemist. I was 24, we were attacked and I. and I" I couldn't say it, I was too confused, to confused to care about the fact I had blurted out that I had dreamt that Roy had adopted me to confused to care that I was crying in front of my superior.

"I'm afraid young man, that world of yours doesn't exist. It has been known for people to dream while in comas" said a man I guess to be a Doctor by her clean white coat "Glad to see your awake. do you remember me? I'm Dr Juliet Tanner".

I listened to them talk for a while, about my health and my dream world and possible therapy, but what I was trying to do was hold on to the memory of my other life. But like all dreams now that i was awake it was starting to fade away.

So none of it was real, what a waste of time. I turned my head to the window allowing tears or frustration to fall from my eyes. How could it all have been a dream, it had felt so real.

"He's awake? Oh my god let me see him!" Her voice. I can hear her coming up the corridor. And then she was there bursting through the door, her blonde hair in a tight pony tail, her eyes full of tears when she looked at me.

"Edward Elric, do you know how worried I've been" she ran at me then, hugging me tight.

"Winery" I mutter, as a faint memory stirs. In my other life, my last regrets before I died. I regretted that I never told Winery how I really feel.

"Winery?" I hold her at arm's length and stare at her tear washed face. She's got the hiccups as well.

"Winery I don't want to risk another life time without telling you…"

"What are you talking about?" she looks confused and Al looks sympathetic yet curious behind her.

"Just listen please. I don't want to go another life time without telling you…I love you" Her eyes widen and then after a few moments so does her smile. She throws herself into my arms.

"I love you too Ed…but what did you mean by another life time"

"I'll explain later" said Al winking a glowing eye, Roy laughs and stands to leave, at the door he turns to Ed.

"By the way, thought you should know that we do have a new recruit to our squad. The sound alchemist. Alexa Song. But she likes to be called Alex."

The end

**A/N well there you have it. All finished. See I didn't kill Ed ;) I hope you enjoyed reading my story, please review and tell me how you thought i went over all. and please check out my other FMA story. Assassin. **.net/story/story_?storyid=6788104&chapter=1

**I would be very thankful :) Until next time Karin xxxxxx**


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